DRYDEN – After graduating from an electrical engineering program in Thunder Bay, international student Nikhil Shastri found his real calling doing something cooler.
The Ice Creamery started in 2024 after Shastri and two friends finished school, but didn’t particularly enjoy the field.
“It's a unique concept. Last year we started from Thunder Bay and covered all of the north until Kenora," said Shastri.
The business operates two ice cream trucks. One is parked in Kenora at Harbourfront and the other is mobile, travelling throughout the region.
“This year we started from Wawa and we covered Marathon, White River, Terrace Bay, Thunder Bay, Dryden, Sioux Lookout. This year we are also planning to visit the First Nation (communities)."
On Tuesday, the roving truck is in Dryden at the Golden Mile Plaza. It will then head off to Sioux Lookout, Fort Frances and Lac Seul.
"We'll see what's next," Shastri said.
“Whenever we go to a new town, everyone shows so much love. Last week we stayed at Atikokan and all of the people requested us to stay one more day, so we stayed there. It's a really good experience,” he said.
The star of the show is their rolled or "live" ice cream, made in front of customers so they can watch the process.
“We call it live-rolled ice cream because we make it on -25-degree temperature cold stone and everything is fresh. We use fresh fruits like strawberry, berries and bananas,” he said.
The Ice Creamery also offers milkshakes, smoothies, lemonade, he said.
“Everyone likes it. We get love and support.
“Every time we get 100 per cent good feedback, no one complains about our product because everything we use is fresh. Even the fruits, we buy every day from Walmart or No Frills or Safeway.
“We like the ice cream, we enjoy moving around all the towns, we get love from everyone," he said.
Shastri said one of the most popular items is the rolled ice cream. Triple Chocolate Temptation, Strawberry Delight and Very Berry are fan favourites.
“When you take one bite of that ice cream, you can feel the freshness, you can taste the freshness of the berries and the cream,” he said.
Last year, the truck was parked in Thunder Bay for over a month, when Shastri and his friends realized it wasn't ideal for the food truck to stay in one place.
“We have to keep moving with our food truck to get business and also meet new people. Whenever we go to events, we enjoy the events like music festivals and we meet new people."
There are more than 1,000 people that like the Ice Creamery’s page on Facebook and regularly follow the business, which operates from the end of May until the first week in September.
